Ive been trying to make an active effort not to link/quote Associated Press articles since their little temper-tantrum last month.

I thought it would be easy, I mean, link to a journal article instead of the crappy AP synopsis. Link to a blogger that was at a ‘gay’ wedding in CA instead of a chicken-little AP story. Support a real journalist instead of the AP idiots. No big deal, right?

Wrong.

This has been a lot harder than I previously anticipated. I didnt realize how dependent I was on APs hard hitting journalism. You simply cannot get high quality journalism, like this, anywhere else.

There has to be some sort of insightful interspecies-cooperation/self-gene angle to this AP story. Dogs are generally known for loyalty, but this one actually surrendered himself to the authorities as soon as they got his goat.

That is an interesting stance The Chemist, and I find myself agreeing with several your points, though being a late comer to this all (missed paying attention when it all happened) I’m finding myself lacking the information to truly weigh in on this matter.

Would anyone happen to have links to the original articles in question, as well as the postings (archived somewhere if the DMCA take downs were successful)?

At the least I can say that the zombie bloggers who copy stuff wholesale and think a little note giving credit at the bottom pardons them is at best, completely deplorable and at worst illegal. I really don’t think that sort of copying is at all protected by fair use myself, but I suppose for the official verdict we’ll need to wait for a case involving them to make it through the court system.

Sorry to differ, but you must realize what the AP is. In many ways its an early form of blogging or web carnival. There are AP (associated press) “reporters” all over the country in every little local newspaper and radio station and in some cases even non-affiliated with a standard news outlet. If they see something they think worthwhile, they post it “on the wires” (of course it use to be a teletype). If others felt it was newsworthy, then subscribers to AP (larger newspapers and broadcast networks) would publish it. Thus,the idea was flood the wires with info from many “associated” sources, and let the most important/provocative/quirky rise to the top. The example linked here is the fault of MSNBC choosing crap, not the local AP person in their basement tossing an observation onto the wire.